The soul thief
by Jak Pennin
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia encounter something new entirely, can they handle it?
1. Beginnings

The young man sprinted through the trees, faster than any normal person could see. But normal people couldn't see him anyway. The shinigami turned to face it's opponent, zanpakuto in hand, then leaped to meet the hollow's charge.

The ripple spread throughout the entirety of Karakura town, starting as a small glitch before becoming a huge burst of static. Rukia tapped her detector. "Damn, another bunch of static" She said to herself before putting it away in her pocket, "Hey, Ichigo! I think there's something wrong with my detector, I'm going to go get Urahara to look at it, keep patrolling and tell me if anything weird pops up"   
"What?! Don't just order me ar—GAH!" His complaint was cut short by a sudden jab to his side from Rukia, "H-Hey! What the hell was that for?!" He yelled at her as she walked away.  
"Stop complaining and do it" She said back to him as she walked away, leaving Ichigo completely fazed as to what was going on.

"Hey! Urahara!" She yelled as she burst through his door, he was sitting behind the small counter of his shop, reading something.  
"Oh, Rukia! Hi! I was expecting you to come around!" He said as she entered "Everyone has been complaining about strange static signals and you were the only one who hasn't come in yet." She slammed the detector onto the counter and glared at the old man in front of her.  
"Well?" she said impatiently.  
"If you had let me finish, I would have told you that they are all fine and I haven't seen any strange signals at all" He said dismissively "Probably just someone getting angry at a hollow somewhere"  
"Well it had better be a bloody strong hollow!" She snapped, getting annoyed at him, "These static bursts are ridiculous, and I haven't picked up a single hollow for ages!"  
"Well, just wait, I'm sure it will die down eventually" He said flatly "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some rather pressing business to deal with" he said as he started to walk away.   
"Tch" she said as she walked out, what possible 'business' could that old man have anyway, she was pretty much his only customer these days.

"Ichigo! Look!" Shouted Kon from Ichigo's shoulder. The hollow was hugely built, and was clearly strong, but it wasn't anything special. He quickly jumped forward, and swung his sword upwards, cleaving the monster in two before letting it fall to the ground and disintegrate. He walked over to the small boy that had been the hollow's target. "Hey, It's time to go to soul society" He said "If you don't go, more creatures like this will come after you" The boy shrunk away from him as he lifted the hilt of his zanpakuto.  
"But I…" The boy stammered "I want to go home"  
"Sorry kid, but there's nothing back there for you" he said, watching the expression fade on the child's face, then quickly performing the soul burial. "Rukia" he muttered "Where the hell are you?"

(_Please leave reviews!)_


	2. The suprise

Rukia ran down the road the static still sent flickers through the screen of her detector, which pissed her off, what the hell could he be doing that's more important than fixing her equipment, he was probably just sitting drunk in the back room of his apartment. Then she remembered something, and her face lit up as she ran down the road.

Urahara stumbled around his shop, his eyes in a blur as he tripped over a chair. The table shattered beneath him as he fell into it,  
"Ughunhgah" he mumbled drunkenly, what was he meant to be doing again? He lurched over to the wall and collapsed onto it, passing out as he hit the floor.

Ichigo jogged down the road, it had been just minutes since he had received a message from Rukia asking him to come to the river quickly, apparently something was up. He turned the corner, expecting to see a hollow or the like, but as he turned the bend, his eyes widened.  
The scene before him was the strangest he had ever seen. There were shinigami everywhere, stretching in a large semi-circle around him, there was also a large number of tables and what appeared to be bottles of suspicious looking water, apparently it was inconspicuous to label bottles "water" over a previous label, and put them on a table that said "Water, completely not alcohol".  
The cheer was enormous, and the noise sent Kon crawling over his shoulder to peek over. The 1st squad captain approached him, flanked by the 8th and 13th captains on each side, with 6th squad captain Byakuya Kuchiki following behind him. As he approached, Ichigo nervously shifted his gaze between everyone, still visibly shocked at the sudden appearance of all the captains and seats before him.  
"Ichigo Kurosaki" said the Captain commander slowly "The 13 protection squads have been ruling over soul society for many millions of years, and we have never once met a human with such extra-ordinary power"  
Ichigo blanched, was this the Captain Commander's idea of praise?  
"For the past few years, you have been in close contact with the 13 protection squads, fighting our wars and helping our patrols, over these years, each of the captains before you have evaluated your skills with the blade, and your willingness to support our cause. We have decided that, despite your lack of formal training and schooling, you have more than earned the right to carry the full rank and responsibility of a shinigami"

Ichigo almost fainted. The shock at this announcement was incredible, him? A shinigami? His features paled as he realised that he would also be required to work more and more until he... wait.  
He finally managed to gather enough of his wits to speak,  
"But, what about my friends? And my family? If I become a shinigami, I won't be able to live my life as I do now"  
"We have already seen to it that you be given the right to use your body in place of a Gigai, you will be able to visit your friends and family every week, at least once, until your body finally dies."  
This was insane, thought Ichigo, him, a full shinigami? He would be mad to accept, but also he would have to be crazy not to. He weighed up his options, and chose, there was only one thing that tipped his mind.

"Thankyou, everyone, you have no idea how much it means to me, I gratefully accept this position from you, and await my charge" Ichigo said grinning.  
"Very well, as you have accepted, the captains of each of the squads shall retreat to the headquarters to discuss your squad placement, for now, enjoy the celebration we have organised, since our official certificate seems to have gone missing, along with the person due to present it" his eyebrows lowered as he remembered the scene that had confronted him at Urahara's shop. He walked away, entering the Senkai gate back to soul society with the captains.

There was a colossal roar from the assembled crowd, and a voice rose above the crowd "Lets celebrate!" and the cheers echoed throughout the town.  
"Ichigo!" came the sudden cry to his right and as he turned to face the source of the cry, Rukia crash tackled him in a tight hug, almost winding him.  
"Ugh, Rukia, hi" He said, looking up and smiling at the grinning face of his friend, he stood up and hugged her back. "Did you know about this?" he asked ludicrously, looking at the smiling faces around him,  
"Of course, silly! Everyone knew!" she said looking him in the eyes, he was genuinely shocked, she could see that, so she dragged him toward the 'water' table, "Lets get a drink! We need to celebrate for once"  
"Hey! Rukia! Ichigo! Came the voice of Renji from one of the larger crowds, "Congratulations!" He shouted, hitting Ichigo on the shoulder just a bit too roughly, Ichigo swore loudly and rubbed his shoulder,  
"What the hell Renji!"  
"Aww, gonna cry?"

The scream penetrated the cheers like a hot knife through butter, sending chills through the spines of everyone present. Everyone turned and stared at the creature leaping through the sky, and recoiled in horror at what they saw, those lower rank shinigami fled and those who were braver stood there ground, but ran, eventually, the only ones left were Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and some of the higher power shinigami.  
The creature roared at its new opponents, towering above them and sending tremors through the air,  
"I-Ichigo!" Rukia shouted, almost shieking, her voice trembling, pointing toward the creatures huge feet, where shapes were crawling away from its body, attached by chains to its chest.  
"What is that?!" Yelled Ichigo,  
"No way, thats impossible!" Exclaimed Renji.  
_  
To be continued..._

(Tell me what you think of my ideas? Do you like my ideas?)


	3. Mists

The shadows curling around the creatures legs parted to show the most horrific thing any of them had ever seen, hundreds of souls, all wrapped in dark chains, glowing with reiatsu. The creature roared again, and five of the chained human souls dropped to the ground and sprinted at the gathered shinigami, releasing screams that would have petrified any normal person. Quickly sensing the danger, Ichigo drew Zangetsu from his back and swung it in an arc at the first soul, cleaving it in two.

It exploded, the massive force of the expanding reiatsu threw all of them several feet into the air, throwing them backward like soft toys. Ichigo quickly flipped back up to face his opponents, and was ready to swing again, but stopped. He was back here again, the towering blue buildings like floors and streets, and the clouds in the sky moving oh so fast. He swung around to face Zangetsu, perched as usual on the wall of one of the massive buildings.  
"So why am I here" said Ichigo bluntly  
"Because you need to learn" replied Zangetsu  
"Learn what"  
"Why did you cut that man?" asked Zangetsu  
"Because I believed he was a threat"  
"He was not armed"  
"But did you see the reiatsu radiating off him?"  
"I saw what you saw, you could have avoided him, now he is doomed to become hollow"  
Ichigo stepped back, Zangetsu had never been this forward before, now he seemed to be even angry.  
Zangetsu spoke again, "When we fight together, remember that it is you that needs to decide who we fight, but make sure it is the right choice."  
The world faded to black and Ichigo's vision returned to the scene before him, another soul charged and he went to swing Zangetsu again, but thought again, and used shunpo to move back to where Rukia and Renji were busily blocking attacks from possessed shinigami, Rukia had taken an injury to her arm and was starting to give ground to the attackers.  
"We have to leave, Now!" Shouted Ichigo to the two of them, who nodded and left quickly, following them, he turned around just long enough to see something blue flashing across the sky toward the hollow.

It disappeared, It didn't die or move, it just vanished. One minute there had been a hollow, with hundreds of souls attached, then there was just nothing. But one soul stood in the middle of the dissipating mist, it looked up at the rapidly moving trio, then toward the source of the blue light, then fled.  
Ishida jumped down to where Ichigo was carrying Rukia, who had passed out after a few moments of running.  
"Ishida, glad you could make it" said Ichigo, putting Rukia down and leaning her against a wall  
"What was that?"  
"We don't know" butted in Renji, who was still trying to put together what he had seen  
"Well now that you're here, can you and Renji go to Urahara and ask him what he knows?" asked Ichigo, "I need to take Rukia to Orihime's place to see if she can patch her up"  
He looked over at Rukia, who groaned slightly, the wound on her arm was still bleeding a lot.  
"Okay, but after this you better tell me what's going on" said Ishida  
"I will if I find anything out" called Ichigo as he picked up Rukia and dashed off in the direction of Orihime's house.

"Oh, it's you two" said Urahara as Ishida and Renji walked into the shop, "What brings you to my humble store, and I thought Rukia was with you Renji?"  
"Well, about that, Rukia is with Ichigo at Orihime's house, she got hurt in the fight, and we came here to ask you what's going on" said Renji  
"Oh?" said Urahara quietly, "And what information exactly would a humble shopkeeper like myself be able to provide to such grandoise heroes such as yourselves?" he chuckled "Tell me what happened"

They talked for at least an hour, detailing everything they knew, and answering all of his questions. Finally, Urahara told them to go home for now, he needed to research. So they left him.

Ichigo leaped down into the driveway of Orihime's house, walking up to the door and carrying Rukia in. He lay her down on the couch and walked into the kitchen to see if Orihime was even there.  
"Whaa! Rukia chan!" came the cry from the other room, it wasn't Orihime, Ichigo swung around and was about to punch whoever it was, but stopped after seeing who was there.  
Hanatorou leaped back and crouched against the back wall, waving his arms bout in shock, "Aaaa! Kurosaki san! What are you doing here? I mean, not that I need to know, in fact, you don't have to tell me, I would probably just get hurt again, please don't hurt me, I can leave if you want..." he kept babbling, with Ichigo standing dumbfounded as to what he was doing here.  
"Hanatorou. Please shut up?" said Ichigo, trying to suppress any sound of his confusion.  
"O-okay!" said Hanatorou, immediately straightening up "Umm, if it's okay with you, Rukia chan is bleeding and I should probably make sure that she is okay" he mumbled, walking over to the couch where Rukia was laying.  
"What... are you doing here?" said Ichigo, still confused beyond all belief.  
"Oh! Right, well I was at your celebration thingy, congratulations by the way, and then that big hollow appeared and I ran away and ended up here, so Inoue let me in and I stayed here taking care of the house while she went to get some shopping items, she said she had something new to cook and wanted me to try it so I de--"  
"Woah! Slow down!" said Ichigo, "So you were at the celebration, and you ran here, and looked after the house, instead of going back to Soul society and possibly the most secure place in the universe?"  
"Ummm, yeah" said Hanatorou  
"I'm hoooome!" Called Inoue as she walked through the door, "Hanatorou, I got some curry powder, some salsa and some caramel sauce, we're all good to make the c-- Kurosaki kun? What are you doing here?" She said, then saw Rukia on the couch "Aaa! Kuchiki san!" she ran over and dropped her bags on the floor.

(hooray, finally an actual plot :3)


	4. Explainations

AN: I apologise for the long wait between chapters, I just don't really have much motivation to write at the moment, but I just came up with some more plot, so here goes!

Urahara Kisuke sat at his table, a cup of tea steaming infront of him and a frown creasing his face. What the boys had told him was worrying, it meant little at the moment, but he had a distinct feeling that soon it would mean a lot more.  
Tessai loomed over his shoulder, mainly because it was a little impossible for him to do anything _other_ than loom.  
"Is the tea okay?" he asked in his massive voice, startling Urahara into leaping back, spilling said tea into his lap and scalding him  
"OW OW OW OW OW!" he yelled as he ran frantically to the tap to cool the burning in his pants, "Damnit Tessai! Don't sneak up on me like that!" In truth, it was hardly fair to say that he was sneaking, but he decided that it was Tessai's fault anyway.  
"I'm sorry, would you like some more tea?" he asked politely

"No, I'm fine, thankyou anyway." he said, walking off to think further and ignoring the throbbing coming from his scorched thighs.

Ichigo sat on the couch in Orihime's lounge, this wasn't abnormal, but in this situation, he was a bit confused because the room was also populated with Hanatorou, Rukia (Who was injured) Orihime, and a plate of... something that looked like it would get up and dance at any moment.  
"So, what is happening?" asked Orihime, which again, sent Hanatorou into a fit of babbling  
"Well, Ichigo was at his ceremony, and we were all partying, and it was pretty cool, congratulations again, by the way, and then this giant hollow appeared, and I ran away, but so did everyone else, except Rukia and Renji and Ichigo, of course, and then I don't know what happened, but mayb--!" A hand was clamped around his mouth very firmly. "mmm HMMMM! MMM hmmm MMMMMM mmMMM!" yelled Hanatorou into the smothering hand, but to no avail, he eventually calmed down and Ichigo removed his hand.  
"Now, Let me try and explain what happened after all of... this" he gestured to Hanatorou, who looked suitably embarrassed. "After most of the shinigami fled, we were left with a charging group of what appeared to be people, but they had strange--- never mind, anyway, after I cut one, he exploded everywhere, and Rukia was injured in the fight that ensued" he paused, letting them get a grasp of what he was saying. "Now, as we left, Rukia passed out, so I had to carry her back here, and---" he was cut off by a loud banging at the door and lots of shouting.  
Orihime stood up "I'll get it!" but was shocked to find not just Ishida and Renji at the door, but also Captain Hitsugaya and Vice captain Matsumoto. As they poured in, Ichigo couldn't help but be completely confused yet again. "What are you guys doing here?!" He yelled, and was sharply told by Renji and Hitsugaya to shut up simultaneously, Hitsugaya also mentioned that he now had to treat him with more respect due to his currently undecided rank.  
As Hitsugaya walked into the room, he spotted the brown and red... thing on the plate.  
"Is that food?" he asked, going a paler shade than usual, it looked like it would leap up and eat them all and he was sure that it moved. Twice.  
Orihime looked puzzled "Yes, why? Is something wrong?"  
"No, nothing" he said resignedly, taking a seat on the floor  
Ichigo still sat there looking completely baffled at the appearance of the 10th squad captain and vice captain.  
He sighed and sat back.

Rukia stirred.

He quickly leaned over her to check if she was awake yet, and was sent tumbling to the floor when she unexpectedly lurched to the side, grabbing his waist.  
"Urk!" he exclaimed as he hit the floorboards, Rukia's full body-weight slamming into him like a ton of bricks.  
He lay there dazed for a moment before looking up to the faces of everyone else, who looked exceptionally shocked.  
"Ummm, Kurosaki kun?" asked Orihime "What are you doing?"  
He looked down at Rukia, who had sprawled across the floor and was sleeping peacefully on his torso.  
"Err, some help would be nice" he said. He didn't want to move because he might stir Rukia, but if he didn't move, it would look worse and worse. His face reddened at the thought, and Matsumoto wittingly asked him why he was going red.  
"SHUT UP!" he yelled as everyone burst into laughter, the events of earlier on forgotten for the time being.


	5. Further Explainations

They were seated around the table, all 7 of them.

Rukia had been moved into one of the bedrooms where she was sleeping soundly, but Ichigo was still slightly red from his rather unfortunate fall.

"So" began Hitsugaya, looking up from his tea "Would you care to explain what happened? I got a general idea from Renji, but his description of the hollow was vague"

"Well we didn't really see much of it, mostly its feet, which were HUGE" Ichigo emphasized the word huge by waving his arms around.

"So... it has big feet." said Hitsugaya flatly, looking unimpressed at what Ichigo had to say, "Well, it's a start, we'll monitor the area and have the 4th squad come down to treat anyone who was injured in the battle, for now, we can't risk moving Kuchiki Rukia from here because of her wounds, but she will be required to return to Soul Society and give a report on the events" He stood up and turned to leave, but was stopped when Renji said "Urahara is looking into what went on". He froze at the door.  
"You told him?"

"Yeah?"

Hitsugaya swore quietly under his breath "I was hoping to keep that imbecile out of this, but in any case" he motioned for Matsumoto to join him "Come on, we're leaving"  
"But captain, I wanted to stay for dinner!" She moaned, but quickly stood up at the look he shot her. "Fine, but I expect you to let me take some with me!" she said, pointing at the brown-red amorphous blob.

"I don't think so, come on" he said quickly, trying not to think about what ingredients could be in it.

Matsumoto sighed and followed him, waving to everyone as they left.

"Well that was... Interesting" said Ichigo after they had left, he was still a little confused, because they had not actually said why they were there.

Rukia woke with a start, looking around at her surroundings. After concluding that she was at Orihime's house, she tried to sit up, but quickly stopped because of the pain in her arm. Laying back down, she started to fall back asleep, but was kept awake by the throbbing feeling coming from the bandaged wound.

Laying there awake, she thought about what had happened, she had been celebrating, then the Hollow had appeared, and then... her memories were hazy, but she did remember passing out.

She looked around the room again and spotted something propped up on a chair in the corner.

Ichigo.

Sound asleep, he must have been sitting there for several hours, because the sun was just starting to filter through the window. She turned over, and slept again, feeling a little better than before, he was cool like that.

"So, do we know what that thing was yet?" asked the captain commander, he looked almost angry, but understandably so, after all, he had just lost several Shinigami to something he couldn't even identify.

"Not yet, Captain" said Hitsugaya in a flat tone, he too, was slightly disturbed by the appearance of the creature.

The captains lapsed into further silence, and then were dismissed by Yamamoto, who almost looked like he was asleep, and anyone who didn't know better would assume he was.

As they walked out, Kyoraku looked at Hitsugaya, and asked quietly "So who's he mad at now, you or Ichigo?"

Hitsugaya just shrugged and walked away.

Kyoraku sighed and left toward his room, pondering exactly what had happened.


	6. Dreams

_The girl fell slowly toward the water, rushing below like rapids.  
As he sprinted toward her, the girl disappeared, and he turned around.  
The train screamed past the station._

He jumped out of the chair, shouting in shock as he woke from his dream._  
That dream again_ he thought to himself, then, shaking his head to clear it, he looked over at the still sleeping Rukia. Sunlight was filtering through the window, so he stretched and walked over to the door, looking back once before going out to the kitchen.  
Orihime was still awake, and she greeted him happily "Good morning Kurosaki kun!" she said as he walked over.  
"Morning, Orihime" he replied, he was still a little fazed from his nightmare.  
He moved into the main room, where Hanatorou had fallen asleep on the couch. He nudged him with his foot to wake him up, "Hey, get up" he said, not too loudly but loudly enough to get him up.  
"Wh-what?" said Hanatorou sleepily as he sat up, rubbing his eyes, he looked at Ichigo, who was, by the looks of it, was very tired, "What time is it?"  
"I don't know, late morning, guessing by the amount of sun" replied Ichigo, scratching his head while trying to think."Waaah! I over slept! How is Rukia, is she okay?" yelled Hanatorou in a babble, getting up quickly and running over to the door of Rukia's room.  
"She's fine, still sleeping" said Ichigo, a little worried about the young shinigami's sanity. Apparantly, being in the 4th squad makes you very jumpy and nervous. And tired. He chuckled at his own little joke, and Hanatorou gave him a questioning look.  
"What's funny?"  
"Nothing"  
He shrugged and stepped into the room to check her temperature and bandages, for a cut on the arm, it sure was taking a lot out of her. He had already checked for poisons, but maybe she was just recovering from blood loss.  
Her temperature had dropped back to average, so he quickly changed the bandages and left the room.

He walked down the road toward Orihime's house, scratching the back of his neck, that idiot Ichigo was probably still there, and the 4th squad guy, Hanatorou...  
He walked up to the door and knocked, "Hey! I'm here"  
The door was opened, and Hanatorou looked up at him, "Ah, Renji! Come in" said Hanatorou, stepping out of the way and walking quickly back to the kitchen. As Renji walked in, he noticed a distinct lack of orange hair. "Where'd Ichigo get to?" he asked nobody in particular, Orihime walked in and explained "He went back to his house to grab some of Rukia's stuff"  
"Okay then, how is she?"  
"Getting better"  
He took a seat on the couch and decided to wait.

Ichigo opened the door to his house and stepped to the side quickly.  
"GOOD MOOOOOORNIIIII-" He swung out a foot and caught his father in the head as he flew through the doorway, landing head first in the fence. He walked inside calling "Morning Dad" behind him.  
Isshin turned around and ran back to the door, only to have it slammed in his face.  
"My son has become so strong!"

As Ichigo walked up stairs, he said good morning to Karin, who was eating breakfast and honestly didn't care that he was back, and Yuzu, who was suitably surprised at her brothers sudden return  
"Where have you been Ichi-nii?" Said Yuzu as he walked up the stairs.  
"I stayed at Orihime's place, it was quicker than coming back here"  
He walked into his room and opened the closet, grabbing some clothes for Rukia and shoving them in his bag. He also gabbed her Soul replacement pills, just in case she wanted to leave quickly.

He didn't bother going back down stairs, instead opting to just climb out of his window and avoid his insane father.

Hey guys, again, sorry for the wait! I hope uploading 2 chapters today compensates for it slightly!

Please R&R!


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